Janet Yellen may tell students they made a good bet going to college

When Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen heads to Yankee Stadium to deliver the commencement for New York University, she’ll know the seats won’t be filled with Wall Street traders. So she may choose to join the debate on whether the education that these students (and their parents) ponied up for was worth it.

If she draws on research from her old stomping grounds, the San Francisco Fed, she’ll say it is. “Data from U.S. workers show that the benefits of college in terms of higher earnings far outweigh the costs of a degree, measured as tuition plus wages lost while attending school,” the research paper says.

Looking at over 40 years of data, the disparity in earnings between those who graduate high school and those who graduate college was about $20,000. And it takes about 20 years for the investment to pay off.

That’s not to say the current surge in student debt isn’t without cost. The lack of first-time home buyers is a crucial factor in limiting the housing market’s recovery. And, that may be due to soaring student debt. According to New York Fed data, student debt has soared to $1.1 trillion at the end of the first quarter from $579 billion six years ago.